


The Shadow of the Guillotine

by LucreziaLouisa1986



Category: Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Genre: F/M, Family, Love, Murder, Revenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-17 11:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3526799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucreziaLouisa1986/pseuds/LucreziaLouisa1986
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Sabine Beaumont would always remember the day she saw her brother executed for a crime he did not committee. For it was the day she swore revenge on the woman whose lies had placed him on the scaffold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shadow of the Guillotine

**Author's Note:**

> I have based this story on the 2002 film, which is why I have used the film's initials/names for Villefort and his wife. However, I will try to put in elements of the book in this story as well.

Young Sabine knew she would never forget that day when the crowds gathered in the town square to watch them kill her brother. Everyone was there of course, people had travelled from all the surrounding towns to witness the authorities put this man of less than 20 years to death. More importantly, they came out to look at his innocent victim, who was playing the role to perfection, sat between her father and the chief magistrate of the region. Dress in her fine white dress, with a matching bonnet, the young Valentina de Saint Meran, as she clasped tightly to her rosary beads, looked the most beautiful picture of innocence. Unlike poor Gaspard Beaumont, who stood on the scaffold, dressed in dirty, torn clothes, his hands chained together.  
It was an image that had never left little Sabine Beaumont, who stood near the front of the stage of death, holding tight to her mother trembling hand. Nor did the sight and sound of the guillotine, slicing through her older brother's neck ever leave her, especially as moments later she saw satisfactory smile appear on Valentina's red lips.  
For it was at that moment that young Sabine make a promise to herself as she glared at her brother's supposed victim. As she saw the older girl being escorted away by her wealthy relations, Sabine swore before God that one day she would destroy the young woman whose lies had murdered her brother.  
****  
'Tell me, Sabine?' asked Valentina de Villefort, as she studied herself in her dressing table mirror as her young maid pinned her long black hair in place, 'where are your family from?'  
'From Brittany, Madame,' replied Sabine, playing heavy on her accent as she pinned a flower into her employer's hair, 'my family had a small farm near the coast,'  
'And you have never been to Loire at all?' continued Valentina as she examined herself more closely in the large, heavy mirror, 'I think I will wear the pearls today,'  
'Of course, Madame,' replied Sabine, dutifully as she went over to her mistress' large oak jewellery box with gold trim and retrieved a string of perfectly white pearls, 'no Madame, after my father died, my mother sent me to work for Madame Lambert in Paris, which is where you found me,'  
'Mmm,' sighed Madame de Villefort as Sabine fastened the pearls around her neck. As Sabine stepped away, Valentina ran her fingers down her neck as she stared at herself more closely in the mirror. Soon her husband would be chief prosecutor and they would be living in Paris, where she could show off her beauty to a much more deserving audience, 'you may not be too good with a needle and thread, Sabine but you certainly have a great skill with hair. Stealing you off Madame Lambert is the best thing I have ever done,'  
'Thank you, Madame,' replied Sabine with a small curtesy and a bob of the head, 'and I am honoured to be in your employment,'  
Valentina gave a small smile as she looked at her lady's maid with a degree of curiosity. Her new lady's maid was indeed a very obedient creature, unlike the others Madame de Villefort employed in her household.  
With great skill Sabine was also examining her new mistress, from her lowered eyelids as less than pure thoughts raced through her mind. She was still as vain as ever, thought Sabine, still believing her beauty meant she was entitled to whatever riches she wanted and to remove whoever stood in her way. Before once again meeting the now Madame de Villefort in Paris, Sabine sometimes wondered whether all those painful hours of trying to lighten her brown hair or replacing her Loire accent with northern dialect of Brittany, would be worth it in the end. But the moment she caught sight of Valentina de Saint Meran now Madame de Villefort in the parlour of Madame Lambert, Sabine knew she should continue with her plots of revenge against the woman whose lies sent her brother to the guillotine.  
'Follow me,' said Valentina, clicking her fingers and snapping Sabine out of her thoughts.  
*****  
'Husband,' said Valentina sharply as she entered the breakfast room, where her husband and father-in-law were already sat, reading their paper and book respectively, 'I want you to give my lady's maid, Sabine a pay rise,'  
'Good morning to you Valentina,' replied her husband, Jean, without even looking up from the paper, 'I trust you had a pleasant sleep,'  
'Did you not hear me, Jean,' continued Valentina, beckoning Sabine into the room as another servant poured her a cup of coffee, 'I want you to give Sabine an extra three francs in her wages from now on,'  
'And what has this Sabine done that it cause me to go spending even more money on servants,' replied Villefort, looking up from his paper for the first time as he reached for his coffee, catching sight of Sabine as he did so, 'oh!'  
Sabine looked down at the floor quickly as she saw her mistress' husband look up at her. She had been in the house for nearly a month, yet she had only ever met Monsieur de Villefort in passing, with him just brushing up against her with no formal acknowledge as his mind was usually preoccupied by the book, letter or paper he was reading. But Sabine had seen him and he was to become her means to secure Madame de Villefort deserved humiliating end.  
'You know how hard it is to find good servants these days,'  
'Especially when you bully them into fleeing the house,' said Villefort’s father, not looking up for his book, ‘poor little Maria, only here two days and she flees the house crying without even collecting her belongings,’  
'Well if she had been able to carry out a simply instruction,' replied Valentina, shooting her father-in-law a fiery glance, 'then I would not have had to keep correcting her, would I?'  
Sabine watched the scene with a neutral expression, being the perfect servant, who never reacted to the drama and tensions of her masters. All the while trying not to notice that she had succeeded on capturing her new master's attention with very little effort as he continued to stare at her as he sipped his black coffee.  
'Oh is it too much to prayer for that I might once have breakfast without the two of bickering like little schoolchildren,' he finally said, as he broke away from the small but curvy figure of Sabine, 'and Valentina does have a point, father. Good servants are hard to come by-you yourself use to constantly bemoan about the kitchen staff, when mother was alive but...'  
He stopped midway through the sentence as if he had forgotten what to say or had suddenly been struck by a thought.  
'Valentina, you shall have your wish, Sabine will have her pay rise,' he continued, getting to his feet as he spoke, 'now if Sabine would accompany me to my study, then I will rectify this as once,'  
****  
'Tell me about yourself Sabine,' Villefort asked as Sabine closed the study door behind them as Villefort took a seat behind his large oak desk.  
'My name is Sabine Beaufort,' Sabine replied without any hesitation as her face remained neutral in expression, 'and I am twenty-one years old. I am from the outskirts of Vennes in Brittany, where my father owned a small farm. When my father died I took to working as a milliner in the town, which is where Madame Lambert found me and took to Paris, to train me as a lady's maid,'  
'And that presumably is where my wife stole you from ,' continued Villefort, leaning forward against the desk and resting his head in his hands, 'I am sure you must be aware that my wife does not have much luck when it comes to lady 's maids,'  
'People do keep mentioning it, Monsieur,' replied Sabine with a bob of the head, 'but she has been nothing but kind to me, since I arrived,'  
'Mmm then you must be something special,' said Villefort, examining the woman more closely. He was convinced she was hiding something-Valentina's previous ladies maids were usually threatened with the sack within less than a week of them arriving at the house or had fled in hysterics. Therefore something must be amiss but every time he tried to think of something, he found his mind thinking of her warm brown eyes. They were extremely inviting as if they were hiding a soul, which would be even more inviting once you were close enough.  
'I am good with hair,' Sabine said, purposely flinching as she briefly met his gaze, 'I am good with make-up. I know all the latest fashions and more importantly I know who they suit and who they do not,'  
'Not bad for a farmer girl,' smiled Villefort, sitting back into his chair, trying not to get lost in her rich red lips, 'but then my wife's last lady's maid ran back to her family’s farm,'  
'Well then if you don't mind me saying so, Monsieur,’ replied Sabine, quietly, 'then she must not have been good at her job. A good lady's maid would never have cause to vex her mistress,'  
Villefort was silent for a moment as he tried to study her words and not her. She did have a point but Valentina was someone who could easily find fault with most things, even on their wedding day. Maybe it was simply a case of Valentina finally finding the right lady's maid to suit her.  
'Then you must be an angel, my dear,' he said, causing her to blush and for himself to feel slightly unsettled by his words, especially as he noticed his eyes were once again examining the curves of her body, 'what I mean is, you shall have the increase in wages that my wife desires,'  
'Oh thank you Monsieur,' answered Sabine, stooping down into a curtesy, 'I am ever so grateful and I promise that I will work even harder to show that I am worthy of you and your wife's kind reward,'  
'Well,' cough Villefort, getting to his feet and trying not to notice the curves of her breast that the angle of her curtesy revealed, 'then I think you should go back to work,'  
'Yes Monsieur, of course,' beamed Sabine, as she made her way to the door, 'and thank you once again,'  
Villefort accompanied her to the door and watched her go, leaning his head against the door frame as he did so. She was certainly not bright if she thought Valentina was a good mistress, but she was certainly pleasing to look at with her golden brown hair and large, round brown eyes.  
'Pretty little thing,' he suddenly heard his father say, causing him to jump out of his thoughts, 'certainly a rather pleasing sight to behold,'  
'I am afraid I do not understand what you are speaking of, father?!' Villefort snapped back, straightening himself up as he did so.  
'Of course you don't,' his father smiled, before carrying on down the corridor chuckling, ‘of course you don’t’


End file.
